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The home of dark fiction writers Sean Platt and David WrightTue, 31 May 2016 10:51:51 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.9Available Darkness Revised Covershttp://collectiveinkwell.com/2016/05/20/available-darkness-revised-covers/
http://collectiveinkwell.com/2016/05/20/available-darkness-revised-covers/#commentsFri, 20 May 2016 06:30:25 +0000http://collectiveinkwell.com/?p=3830Available Darkness was the first book that Sean and I ever wrote together. In fact, we wouldn’t even be writing today if not for that book, which we started waaaaaay back in 2008, and we finished in 2011. We took a bit longer to write a book back then!

As Sean and I are finishing up the third and final book in the series (coming in June!), we decided to go back and read the first two books in the series.

Available Darkness: Book Two is one of my favorite books we’ve written, with some of my favorite scenes involving one of my favorite characters, Abigail. And despite being a few years old now, it still stands up well, I think.

But the first book was a bit harder to read.

It was a bit clunky compared to our current stuff.

And that kinda sucks. And it’s kinda the reason we don’t talk about it more.

“Hey, we’ve got this AWESOME series that you HAVE to read. But, um, you’ve gotta get past some clunky writing in the first book.”

That doesn’t exactly sell the series!

So we decided to revise it, going through the whole first book and fixing what needed fixing. It was mostly story flow and some typos. We didn’t change the actual story itself. So if you read the book, you definitely don’t need to re-read it!

We just wanted to make it a better reading experience. To that end, we also had our editor Jason work his magic on it.

And if you’re going to remodel the house, you can’t forget the exterior.

We also commissioned new covers to replace the original ones that I had made myself.

While I still like MY covers a lot, I think these new ones are more commercially appealing, and actually show our characters! Additionally, I think they speak more to the genre the book is.

We’ll be republishing the first two books in the Available Darkness series next week (I’ll write a new blog post when the new books are live) and we’ll also be having a half-off sale, so it’ll be a great time to pick them up and to be ready for an awesome finale next month.

We’ve been reading them since we were kids, and publishing them since 2011.

We started Dark Crossings as our short story moniker to pay homage to shows like The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Outer Limits and Tales from the Darkside.

So in 2016, we’re publishing a new Dark Crossings Double Feature every other month. Sean and I will each write a short story and publish them together, with author notes, exclusively at Amazon (find out more on why in this post).

DARK CROSSINGS DOUBLE FEATURE: RITES OF PASSAGE

(Note: One of the stories, Rites of Passage, was available to Sterling and Stone prime members last year. So if you were a member then, you already have the first story. The second story, The Room, is brand new. Both are new to Amazon, though.)

DARK CROSSINGS DOUBLE FEATURE: RITES OF PASSAGE

(TWO SHORT STORIES IN ONE DOUBLE FEATURE!)

From #1 horror and sci-fi authors of the Yesterday’s Gone series and Z 2134, Sean Platt and David Wright, comes two short stories including a return to the world of Z 2134 in Rites of Passage, and a new short story called The Room.

RITES OF PASSAGE

In the year 2138, humans live behind walled Cities under strict government control. For those who refuse the confines of tyranny, there is The Barrens, a harsh land where everything is out to kill you — from the wildlife to zombies to other humans.

A lucky few manage to find some semblance of a normal life living within secret villages, ignored by the government and as yet undiscovered by bandits.

But living in such villages requires you to always be prepared — for anything.

Following the death of her father, 15-year-old Scout knows that it is on her to ensure that her 10-year-0ld brother, Kip, has what it takes to survive in the cruel Barrens.

But Kip is a kind soul, unable to even hunt an animal for survival.

So she takes him out to the woods to toughen him up. But what they find will not only test her brother, but also Scout’s resolve. Will she be forced to give up her humanity in order to protect her family?

Z: Rites of Passage is a standalone short story taking place independent of the Z 2134 trilogy with new characters and locations.

We’ve been reading them since we were kids and writing them since 2011.

We started Dark Crossings as our short story moniker to pay homage to shows like The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Outer Limits and Tales from the Darkside.

But they’ve always had a limited audience compared to our series and standalone books.

Part of that, I think, is because of the price.

Three bucks is a bit too much for one short story (save for something novella length).

But .99 knocks us down to a 35% royalty at Amazon.

So we came up with an idea — a Dark Crossings Double Feature.

Two stories, one from Sean and one from me (Dave), along with Authors’ Notes for about $1.50 per story — or $2.99 a book.

But the only way I think this will really work is if we put the short stories into KDP Select (meaning the stories will be exclusive to Amazon for a while). Our shorts haven’t sold well on the other platforms to date, and it makes no sense putting them everywhere for the few people who might want them. Not when we could be getting the promotion that comes with being Amazon exclusive, promotion which might actually earn back the investment we put into the stories (covers, editing, etc).

BUT … we don’t want to alienate our Apple, Kobo, and Nook readers.

So here’s what we’re going to do.

We’re releasing our first double feature on Gumroad FIRST for a LIMITED TIME.

In other words, you’re buying directly from us (well, through Gumroad).

After that we’ll be taking the book off sale at Gumroad, making the book exclusive to Amazon for 90 days.

WHY GO EXCLUSIVE TO AMAZON?

While we love being sold in all the major stores, so any reader can read us on any device, we also want to sell books! And while our major series do well elsewhere, the smaller books don’t.

Meanwhile, tons of authors are having success with KDP Select — with the ability to make their books free for periods of time and making them free to borrow for Kindle Unlimited readers! These books also tend to show up a lot more often on searches, and also-boughts, meaning that anytime we don’t publish on KDP Select, we’re hurting our ability to sell on Amazon.

With our larger titles we can afford this — as we’ve built a readership for some titles on other platforms. But for our smaller books, not so much.

Still, it sucks to not have the book available to everyone at every store at the same time.

Which is why we’re doing this experiment. We’ll see how it works, and if it goes well, we may do this with our other short stories and works that will be Amazon exclusive first.

DARK CROSSINGS DOUBLE FEATURE: RITES OF PASSAGE

(Note: One of the stories, Rites of Passage, was available to Sterling and Stone prime members last year. So if you were a member then, you already have the first story. The second story, The Room, is brand new. Both are new to Amazon, though.)

DARK CROSSINGS DOUBLE FEATURE: RITES OF PASSAGE

(TWO SHORT STORIES IN ONE DOUBLE FEATURE!)

From #1 horror and sci-fi authors of the Yesterday’s Gone series and Z 2134, Sean Platt and David Wright, comes two short stories including a return to the world of Z 2134 in Rites of Passage, and a new short story called The Room.

RITES OF PASSAGE

In the year 2138, humans live behind walled Cities under strict government control. For those who refuse the confines of tyranny, there is The Barrens, a harsh land where everything is out to kill you — from the wildlife to zombies to other humans.

A lucky few manage to find some semblance of a normal life living within secret villages, ignored by the government and as yet undiscovered by bandits.

But living in such villages requires you to always be prepared — for anything.

Following the death of her father, 15-year-old Scout knows that it is on her to ensure that her 10-year-0ld brother, Kip, has what it takes to survive in the cruel Barrens.

But Kip is a kind soul, unable to even hunt an animal for survival.

So she takes him out to the woods to toughen him up. But what they find will not only test her brother, but also Scout’s resolve. Will she be forced to give up her humanity in order to protect her family?

Z: Rites of Passage is a standalone short story taking place independent of the Z 2134 trilogy with new characters and locations.

New to the series? Catch up today and get the full FIRST FIVE SERIES in an Apple ExclusiveBundle for just $12.99!!

]]>http://collectiveinkwell.com/2015/07/07/collective-inkwell-season-six/feed/2Yesterday’s Gone: Season Five Available Everywhere (almost)http://collectiveinkwell.com/2015/02/24/yesterdays-gone-season-five-available-everywhere-almost/
http://collectiveinkwell.com/2015/02/24/yesterdays-gone-season-five-available-everywhere-almost/#respondTue, 24 Feb 2015 06:49:35 +0000http://collectiveinkwell.com/?p=3764Yesterday’s Gone: Season Five is now available everywhere (except Apple, which we’re working on).

YESTERDAY’S GONE: SEASON FIVE (EPISODES 25-30 — THE FULL FIFTH SEASON)
Time is running out.
There are 11 alien vials left, and whoever has them holds the fate of humanity in their hands. Will the world succumb to The Darkness or be saved by The Light?
Black Island Guardsmen are racing to save the world, but to do so they must put Paola in a danger unlike anything she’s ever faced.
What lengths will The Guardsmen go through to get the vials?
Can Mary protect her daughter from an insidious alien that has already destroyed so much?
Will Luca be mankind’s savior or its final judge?
Can Boricio overcome his past, or will he succumb to his one weakness — an infected Rose?
Find out in this penultimate game changing season leading to the insane final sixth season of Platt & Wright’s bestselling post-apocalyptic thriller.

]]>http://collectiveinkwell.com/2015/02/24/yesterdays-gone-season-five-available-everywhere-almost/feed/0Yesterday’s Gone: Season Five is Available Now!http://collectiveinkwell.com/2014/10/13/yesterdays-gone-season-five-is-available-now/
http://collectiveinkwell.com/2014/10/13/yesterdays-gone-season-five-is-available-now/#commentsMon, 13 Oct 2014 07:21:14 +0000http://collectiveinkwell.com/?p=3750YESTERDAY’S GONE: SEASON FIVE

Time is running out.

There are 11 alien vials left, and whoever has them holds the fate of humanity in their hands. Will the world succumb to The Darkness or be saved by The Light?

Black Island Guardsmen are racing to save the world, but to do so they must put Paola in a danger unlike anything she’s ever faced.

What lengths will The Guardsmen go through to get the vials?

Can Mary protect her daughter from an insidious alien that has already destroyed so much?

Will Luca be mankind’s savior or its final judge?

Can Boricio overcome his past, or will he succumb to his one weakness — an infected Rose?

Find out in this penultimate game changing season leading to the insane final sixth season of Platt & Wright’s bestselling post-apocalyptic thriller.

Get all six episodes now at Amazon.

They’ll be available everywhere else on January 12! For more on why these episodes are a 90 day exclusive with Amazon, you can read about that here.

There are 11 alien vials left, and whoever has them holds the fate of humanity in their hands. Will the world succumb to The Darkness or be saved by The Light?

Black Island Guardsmen are racing to save the world, but to do so they must put Paola in a danger unlike anything she’s ever faced.

What lengths will The Guardsmen go through to get the vials? Can Mary protect her daughter from an insidious alien that has already destroyed so much?Will Luca be mankind’s savior or its final judge?Can Boricio overcome his past, or will he succumb to his one weakness — an infected Rose?

Find out in this penultimate game changing season leading to the insane final sixth season of CI’s bestselling post-apocalyptic thriller.

GET SEASON FIVE TODAY!

All six episodes will be available on October 13th at Amazon. And the full season will be available in six weeks at Amazon, and in 90 days everywhere else.

If you’re a Sterling & Stone Platinum Reader, then Yesterday’s Gone Season 5 is already in your Member’s Library.

And as a special thank you for your patience in waiting for Sean and I to finish this book (and for helping us pick the cover design), we’re releasing Crash at a special introductory price of only .99!

That’s this week only, though. After this week, it will go back to its full price of $3.99. (Priced lower than our usual stories as it’s not as long as a typical season.)

If you’ve been reading these emails or following the blog for any amount of time, you know this is a story I’ve been working on for a long time — since the late 80s!

Crash is a story very close to my heart. I talk a bit about its origins in the Author’s Note at the end of the book, though you should read the story first as the note spoils some things that happen!

Here’s the back-of-the-book teaser:

CRASH

Sometimes the ghosts that haunt us most aren’t the dead.

It has been nearly a year since writer Thomas Witt lost his daughter in a horrible car accident which nearly killed him. He and his wife are attempting to have another child and put their lives back together.

However, he can’t move on.

In addition to his daughter, there’s something else missing — specifically his memories for six months prior to the accident.

He finds himself obsessively drawn to accident scenes where he photographs the carnage in attempts to reclaim his memories.

But what he finds in the photographs may just destroy him.

Crash is the first non-series book from The Kings of the Serial and bestselling authors, Sean Platt and David Wright.

Crash is approximately 41,000 words and contains a sneak peek at the opening chapters of Threshold, coming Sept. 2, for a total of more than 48,000 words.

EARLY WORD ON CRASH

Here’s some early reviews:

“Absolutely. Brilliant.”

“a gutting, wrenching and disturbing tale”

“Profoundly captivating!”

“When you reach the conclusion of this story, you cannot help but to feel that the time you have invested in reading this was well spent. Gut wrenching.”

“Deeply Depressing”

If that sounds like your kind of book, head on over to Amazon today and pick it up while it’s just .99!

]]>http://collectiveinkwell.com/2014/06/30/crash-is-here/feed/1Crash Covers and Datehttp://collectiveinkwell.com/2014/06/13/crash-covers-and-date/
http://collectiveinkwell.com/2014/06/13/crash-covers-and-date/#commentsFri, 13 Jun 2014 08:29:25 +0000http://collectiveinkwell.com/?p=3687Thanks to everybody who weighed in on the Crash covers in our last post.

I’ve come back with variations of the white cover, including a few with darker textures.

Also, we’ve got a launch date for Crash.

Look for it on June 30!

Here’s the synopsis again:

CRASH

It has been nearly a year since writer Thomas Witt lost his daughter in a horrible car accident which nearly killed him. He and his wife are attempting to have another child and put their lives back together.

However, he can’t move on.

In addition to his daughter, there’s something missing — specifically his memories for 6 months prior to the accident.

He finds himself obsessively drawn to accident scenes where he photographs the carnage in attempts to reclaim his memories.